HNoMS Helge Ingstad Collision

[Hood]

The Norwegian frigate HNoMS Helge Ingstad has collided with an oil tanker in the Hjeltefjord near Bergen. The cause of the collision is unknown.
The frigate appears to be seriously damaged with a severe gash in the starboard side of the hull and it was beached in an attempt to prevent it sinking, but during the day the ship has continued to list and is now almost on its side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_8EIcjUsyc

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46136564

 

[TomS]

Ouch. That's pretty horrible to watch. Glad there were so few injuries.

 

[Moose]

Good to hear there were no fatalities, hope the wounded were not severely so.

Norwegian report with video of her going down.

I wonder, were the tugs attempting to keep her upright and on the rocks/bar she was sitting on but the flooding just rolled her off? Or were they trying to pull her off before the flooding was contained, and as soon as she came off she went down?

 

[TomS]

I think they were actually pushing her further onto the bar, then she rolled once she was beached higher.

 

[Arjen]

https://youtu.be/TdEOTjD2_uI

 

[Moose]

I think they were actually pushing her further onto the bar, then she rolled once she was beached higher.

Could well have been. Sadly I it seems likely that the longer she's on her side, the more likely a write-off becomes.

 

[TomS]

I think they were actually pushing her further onto the bar, then she rolled once she was beached higher.

Could well have been. Sadly I it seems likely that the longer she's on her side, the more likely a write-off becomes.

Yeah, I think at this point, she's pretty much a constructive total loss. Just getting the hull straightened out and patched up would be a huge undertaking.

Fortunately, a lot of the electronics look to be dry, so maybe she'll be a useful source of spares for the surviving ships?

 

[Moose]

I think they were actually pushing her further onto the bar, then she rolled once she was beached higher.

Could well have been. Sadly I it seems likely that the longer she's on her side, the more likely a write-off becomes.

Yeah, I think at this point, she's pretty much a constructive total loss. Just getting the hull straightened out and patched up would be a huge undertaking.

Fortunately, a lot of the electronics look to be dry, so maybe she'll be a useful source of spares for the surviving ships?

Quite possible. I've seen a few Norwegians griping on other sites that they were having trouble manning all their frigates anyway.

 

[GTX]

https://link.theplatform.com/s/2E2eJC/6YZlYsFgoIfD?MBR=TRUE&format=redirect&manifest=m3u&format=redirect&Tracking=true&Embedded=true&formats=MPEG4

 

[Foo Fighter]

From the view on that video it LOOKS like the tugs pushed her too far over just before the rate of settling increased.

 

[Moose]

Ooof, she's further under now. Looks like the entire starboard side up to the base of the mast, and it's worse aft.

https://twitter.com/NavyLookout/status/1061240119569645574?s=19

A lot of potentially useful spares are submerged, her entire CiC, drivetrain, and most of her weapons might be done for. The SPYs are still dry at least.

 

[TomS]

Makes me sick to see her like that. Looks like the only armament that hasn't gone swimming is the four NSM on the port side. Where does the SPY-1F transmitter sit? In the mast or lower down?

 

[Moose]

Makes me sick to see her like that. Looks like the only armament that hasn't gone swimming is the four NSM on the port side. Where does the SPY-1F transmitter sit? In the mast or lower down?

I believe the radar room would still be high and dry in the mast, at least as of that photo. But there's a whole lot of processing power and consoles below the current water line.

https://twitter.com/Edward_Sn0wden/status/1061330788023746560

 

[TsrJoe]

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2018/11/latest-frigate-helge-ingstad-sinks?fbclid=IwAR3xnNLxM50Da788wSA0Sc-Hsyiei9HArtbBm4qWQgXjUHJLuQCwVY0x6Fg#.W-qhmfmuiH4.facebook

 

[stealthflanker]

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2018/11/latest-frigate-helge-ingstad-sinks?fbclid=IwAR3xnNLxM50Da788wSA0Sc-Hsyiei9HArtbBm4qWQgXjUHJLuQCwVY0x6Fg#.W-qhmfmuiH4.facebook

Well RIP. Those CFA's, Microwave sphagetti and phase shifters are bound to be wet by now.

 

[Moose]

Yikes, yep that's gonna be a total loss now of the radars and comms. She'll be completely submerged before they have her up.

 

[TomS]

Absolutely. Nothing salvageable at all now. Not even as spares.

Edit: Reading the VTS transcripts (even via machine translation) is maddening. The frigate's bridge crew seems to have had no clue that they were CBDR with another ship. Sounds like they were't even running radar, despite being in very tight pilot waters. All they had to do was slow down, or turn just a few degrees. Shockingly bad seamanship.

 

[TomcatViP]

If they were relying solely on some kind of transponders... those things are not reliable both in term of data settings (manual inputs) and hacking risks. My guess is that they won't be the last (or are the first) to crash that way.

 

[TomS]

If they were relying solely on some kind of transponders... those things are not reliable both in term of data settings (manual inputs) and hacking risks. My guess is that they won't be the last (or are the first) to crash that way.

I doubt that's the issue. I think the frigate's OOD thought they could thread the needle between the rocks to starboard and a hard place (or ship, in this case) to port. But why the heck they didn't just slow down and let the Sola pass ahead, I can't imagine.

 

[TomcatViP]

They were sailing close to land (fjord) so I guess direct directional GPS jamming wouldn't have been that hard.

Today DoD announced the priority upgrade of ANG F-16 in order to have their GPS Jam-free. Norway signaled experiencing Russian GPS jamming during NATO exercises. (https://www.c4isrnet.com/electronic-warfare/2018/11/13/norway-says-russia-jammed-gps-signal-during-nato-drill/ )

 

[TomS]

There's no way this is a jamming issue. It's a poor seamanship issue. They should have been able to avoid this collision just by eye, and radar should have made it child's play even without GPS.

 

[aonestudio]

Learning the lessons – the loss of the Norwegian frigate Helge Ingstad | Navy Lookout

www.navylookout.com

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXUf6B2wLtw

 

[Jason Dykstra (Wyvern)]

Here are two reports I found on Transport Malta affiliated websites regarding the incident. The tanker was Maltese-flagged so a team of Maltese investigators took part as well, however, I am not sure where to find their report or whether it was part of the Norwegian report.

It is a shame such an incident took place.

 

[aonestudio]

The owner of the tanker that collided with the Norwegian frigate Helge Ingstad in 2018 has agreed to pay about $27 million in compensation to the Norwegian government for the loss of the warship.

In late February 2019, after lengthy delays due to weather, Helge Ingstad was raised and transported to a pier in Hanøytangen for evaluation. Facing a repair bill of $1.4 billion - three times the newbuild cost of the vessel - the Royal Norwegian Navy declared her a total loss. In early 2021, Norway's defense procurement agency contracted with a local scrap yard to demolish the wreck at a cost of $7.1 million, spending extra to ensure that any sensitive technology aboard the vessel would remain in the country.

A preliminary report from Norway's Accident Investigation Board found that a significant share of the fault for the collision lay with the watchstanders of Ingstad's bridge team, who believed that the oncoming tanker was a fixed object up until the final moments before the collision. Despite extensive attempts at communication between the tanker, the VTS center and the Ingstad, the frigate's bridge team did not attempt to alter course until they were in extremis. The tanker's bow struck Ingstad amidships on the starboard side, causing extensive damage and flooding.

The settlement agreement with Twitt Navigation covers a small fraction of the $490 million value of the frigate and the $80 million that Norway spent on salvage expenses. It represents an end to the negotiations, but it still leaves the capability gap created by the frigate's loss: Ingstad was one of only five main surface combatants in the Royal Norwegian Navy, and her absence represents a considerable reduction in capacity.

Tanker Owner Settles With Norway Over Collision With Frigate

The owner of the tanker that collided with the Norwegian frigate Helge Ingstad in 2018 has agreed to...

www.maritime-executive.com

 

[aonestudio]

Norway naval officer found guilty of negligence in oil tanker collision

A Norwegian naval officer was found guilty on Monday and sentenced to a two-month suspended jail sentence for negligence leading up to the 2018 collision between a warship he commanded and an oil tanker in which the military vessel sank.

www.reuters.com